I want one of these

I want one of these. Check this out:

Pics, or it didn't happen

In contrast to the very public signing of the health care "reform" bill earlier this week, President Obama chose to have his signing of the executive order maintaining the status quo in regards to funding abortion away from the eyes of the press. I, for one, have no faith whatsoever that this will stick, because Obama is a known legalized abortion supporter.

Pro-life Democrats: The "Democrat" comes first

Just so you know, I had practically no faith that the pro-life Democrats would hold out when the chips were down on the health care "reform" debate. I also have ZERO faith that President Obama will come through with his executive order that is supposed to ensure that existing limits on federal funding will remain in place. Obama promised a lot of other things that he ended up not doing, remember? (We're still in Iraq, right? Gitmo is still open, right? Among other things.)

While I may not necessarily agree with having "baby killer" shouted at Rep. Bart Stupak when he was placing his vote, no doubt if he is a pro-lifer worth any salt, it will have hurt to some extent, and his vote will come back to him when (with a heavy emphasis on "when") he finds out that Obama not only did not come through, he actually expanded funding of abortions - if not outright get rid of any limitations to the funding of abortions.

The pro-life Democrats were the last hope that the Democratic Party would have a revival to get back to their blue-collar working class roots (and anyone who believes that the Dems are still such a party is blind beyond belief), and now that hope is officially dashed. The Democrats have no more heroes, folks - only sellouts. We will have to look for our heroes elsewhere.

Do or die for the Democrats? More like Do AND Die

There is a saying that the definition of insanity is to repeatedly do the same failed thing and expecting a different result each time. That is what we have currently with the Democrats and their latest scheme to pass their enormously unpopular health care "reform" bill. This time around, they're trying to slip this by as having been "deemed" passed without actually having voted on it. This is to get around having to be on record as voting for the bill in one way or the other. If they go this route, this will demonstrate a staggering level of cowardice the likes of which hasn't been seen - well, for a very long time.

Politicians are not known for bravery - their whole purpose in life is to get re-elected, and they get re-elected by having as little as possible on their record that might trip up their re-election chances. Such motivations encourage cowardice in times like now - but this latest legal maneuver would demonstrate a level of cowardice that is surprising even for them. The Dems keep trying to blame the GOP, but this needs to be repeated: If the Dems really wanted this bill passed, they could have done this themselves a long time ago without any GOP interference. The fact that it hasn't been passed now is because of inter-party interference, not GOP interference.

Some time back, I had expressed my dissatisfaction - no, disgust - with the current Democratic Party. Whatever they had been in the past that was worth supporting has long gone, and the current party leadership has demonstrated an embarrassing level of cluelessness and arrogance; so much so that I had hoped that the party would implode so that it might start over. I had taken that back because I knew that there were still a few Dems fighting the good fight, but in recent months, I have given up that hope. The current Dem leadership, of which I regard Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the worst of the bunch, demonstrates a level of blind, naked greed and ambition that is willing to sacrifice its own party members to get their will done - no matter what the cost to their party or individual party members.

Failure to pass this bill would probably be the second best thing to happen. This would at least allow time for the Dems running for re-election this year to scrub themselves clean of this whole health care "reform" mess before November runs around. If the bill does pass - especially in this current " 'deeming' it passed without actually voting on it" scheme, then the best thing to happen would be for the party to implode and the whole sorry rabble to be voted out of office. Then the Democrats that remain would have the choice to either clean their act up, or to simply dissolve as a party. This whole mess is occurring because of a few blind individuals, and their shameless greed should not be rewarded.

Let me also repeat here that this is NOT to say that I am opposed to health care reform. This is also not to say that I favor the current status quo. I am indeed in favor of changing some things. However, the problem with the current Democratic leadership is that they are insistent that their version of health care "reform" is the ONLY way to get it done. Their repeated insistence on getting it passed with their version to the exclusion of all others is all the more reason to oppose it, because the more nutzo schemes they keep coming up with to pass it, the more suspicious the rest of us should get - especially the rank-and-file party members whose own re-election chances are on the line. How did the Dems get themselves into such a sorry mess in the first place?

Coming to your local airport soon? Shoe scanners

Possibly coming soon to your local airport are: Shoe scanners! No more taking off of your shoes; now this scanner will check your shoes for you. It seems to me, though, that it should also shine your shoes while it is scanning them. :-P

Should Speedy Gonzalez make a return?

Just for the sake of disclosure (and in case you didn't know it already), I am Hispanic. With that context in place, I want to say that I would like to see Speedy Gonzalez brought back, even if it's just for a movie.

I understand why some would be offended with some of the representations of Mexico and Mexican culture in the Warner Bros' animated shorts from the past. However, to censor them would be to ignore our past and how we used to think, and no one benefits if we try to change the past. For my part, I enjoyed watching Speedy Gonzalez - and yes, even "Slowpoke Rodriguez". Who from my generation doesn't remember that classic line in which Slowpoke appears, when one of the villains says, "Slowpoke Rodriguez, he packs a gon (gun)".

I agree wholeheartedly with this line from the above linked column: "All I know is that I enjoyed his stories as a kid and viewed Speedy as one of the cooler fictional mice around, better than Mighty Mouse, better even than the iconic Mickey. " Folks, I am here to tell you that Speedy was WAY, WAY cooler than the intensely bland Mickey!

So I say, bring back the mouse from Mexico. And his cousin Slowpoke, too. Just give him some Red Bull and maybe it will speed him up some. Just don't offend him, because he does pack a gon - er, gun - after all.

The Dems are headed down the path of insanity

So now we know how important the passage of the Democrats' health care bill is to them: It means EVERYTHING. No matter the cost, whether fiscal or political, all that matters is that it passes, even if the Dems have to skip steps and take shortcuts to get there.

What Obama wants to get through is not even the bill that was debated on; it's his own creation, and they seem to be patting themselves on the back for having thought up a means of getting past the fact that they no longer have the 60 votes needed to make it filibuster proof.

This desperation to get it through truly scares me. Their desperation is all the more reason to see it killed. Anyone who knows anything about the signs that you're being conned can smell something wrong from a mile away. The more a con man pushes a certain product, the more suspicious anyone should be, and this has been pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed despite all the problematic aspects of this bill that keeps being pointed out even by other Democrats.

The Dem leadership has of late been trying to color the GOP as the "party of no", but the GOP until last month did not have the votes to stop the Dems had they all wanted this bill passed, but it did not go through because it was the Dems themselves that held it up. Now with this alleged health care "summit" (which was actually one last chance for the GOP to do things their way) out of the way, we saw the Dems' true colors: It's still their bill in their form that they want passed, and now they're going to go with this option that needs only 50% of the Congress rather than 60%.

It's my sincere hope that, just as Dems held up the bill getting through when they had 60 votes, that they will continue to hold it up even when needing only 50 votes. I'm hoping that enough Democrats will finally find the strength of character and the sense of right and wrong to say "Enough!" So far, it's be a sad and sick display of party loyalty at all costs despite the fact that many Dems have problems with this bill.

Many Americans want health care reform, but not in the form of THIS bill. THIS bill needs to die and the process of reform to start over. But no, THIS bill is all that the Dems will accept, and it's THIS bill that needs to go through no matter what. Someone stands to gain probably both in power and in dollars with the passage of THIS bill, and it's why the Dems are fighting so hard, so determinedly, and so illogically to get it through.

Whoever is pulling their strings must really have something on so many of the Democrats, because the Dems are pursuing this with a madman's sense of priorities. Con games should not be rewarded. Blind and slavish party loyalty should not be rewarded. Madness should not be rewarded. THIS bill needs to die, and die quickly.

Shoveled snow for the first time in my life...

...and I don't know how you people up north do it. Of course, you probably have equipment for stuff like this, instead of the regular garden shovel that I had. Had I a regular snow shovel, this might have gone faster. But then again, the snow in the shovel was heavy enough, so I probably did good just using the garden shovel.

The snow was pretty to look at until I had to shovel it - then I was ready for it to be gone!

Tim Burton's Cheshire Cat

This is the Cheshire Cat from the upcoming Tim Burton movie, Alice in Wonderland. Just from the fact that Tim Burton directed it, you know it's not going to be like Disney's other Alice in Wonderland flick.

I just may post the pic below around my house to scare away any mice. That many teeth should put any mouse to flight!

New link to a blog

If you will notice, I have a new link to a blogger that I know. Meet Chris Manno, airline pilot and blogger, and his blog is called Jethead's Blog.

I first met the guy back when we both were "community columnists" in 2005 for our local city paper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

He's an excellent writer, and a bit crazy, but I guarantee you'll like his stuff.

If you see him piloting your flight, tell him I said "Hi!"

Sarah Palin and the "Tea Party" movement

I used both Sarah Palin and the movement referred to as the "Tea Party" movement (TPM) in my subject line, but I'm not necessarily saying that they are related to each other. Mainly, I'm keeping an eye on them because of the responses they get from the Democrats.

The Democratic Party likes to pride itself as the "Party of the little people", so given that Palin and the TPM have largely a populist appeal, they should be getting along like two peas in an iPod. Rather, the opposite seems to be true.

What I especially find troubling is the reactions from the Democrats, sometimes using childish insults like calling the Tea Party members "Tea Baggers" (if you don't get it, "tea-bagging" is a reference to a sexual act involving male body parts. You'll just have to use your imagination. I actually had to look this up!). Given that the Dems consider themselves to be the enlightened and intellectual party, it's a bit odd for them to resort to juvenile insults more suited to junior high than for the "marketplace of ideas".

It's because of this odd reaction that I have been keeping an eye on the TPM, and Sarah Palin for that matter. They are connected in some way, and I think that we are in for a treat in the coming months leading up to November when the mid-term elections occur. Well, it's a treat at least from a "political pundit's" (which is what my brother calls me) point of view.

Consider this: The Dems consider former president George W. Bush as a complete idiot, and yet somehow, this moron managed to keep tricking and fooling them into doing all kinds of things time and time again, in a sort of "Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd" kind of way. If a complete dumbass like Bush can keep pulling the wool over the eyes of the Dems, what does that suggest about the Dems' intellectual level?

And now we have Sarah Palin and the TPM seeming to be doing the same thing all over again to the Dems; and very much to their annoyance. The Dems don't seem to be connecting to the people they claim to be the party of, and they don't know why. They don't get it. They're missing something, and they don't know what it is. So they respond in the completely logical and responsible way by using name-calling and insults.

The answer is staring them in the face, and this "political pundit" finds it an endless source of entertainment watching the Dems trip all over themselves denying the obvious. I would point it out, but why should I? I need something to keep blogging about from now until November!

Don't think that I'm excusing the GOP here. A bigger bunch of cowards you'll never find. I'll discuss them more in another blog entry. I'm only starting with the Dems because I used to be such a supporter until they went nutzo on me, and I have been so let down by them ever since.

"Hope and Change"? Not so much, it seems. More same-o, I think.

More to come, folks! Sit tight and enjoy the ride!

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated

Hey. It's been awhile, I know. Basically, I just needed a short break, and before I knew it, months passed.

But now with an election season beginning, it's time to resume my blog and my usual brilliant and insightful commentary. Politicians often say and do dumb stuff, and it's folks like me that like to point it out. Why do we keep re-electing these guys anyway?

Since I'm out of practice, I'll be a bit rusty, but I'll try to keep at it until the old form comes back. Who knows - maybe I'll even do some edtoons as well.

Stay tuned, folks. I'm back!

Independence Day Quiz

Take this quiz and see how ya do. Independence Day Quiz

I got a 26 out of about 30 questions.

Health care debate again: Democrats gone mad

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. Anyway, let's hit the ground running.

I just cannot figure the Democrats out. Why, why, why do they think that the "government option" is the ONLY solution to helping take care of the health care situation? Why are they so dead set on sticking through this - thick-or-thin, come-what-may, hell-or high-water? Why won't they weigh any other alternative, no matter how logical or reasonable?

What has made them so close-minded and intolerant to discussion and debate on this issue that they won't compromise one letter, despite the potential consequences to Obama's reputation as a leader and to their own re-election chances? Why is the passage of this one bill worth sacrificing their political careers and to the "edge" they hold in the House and Senate, this despite legitimate and credible doubts to the plan as they wish to enact it?

It boggles my mind, and it makes me grateful once again that I long ago decided to embrace my "independent" status after having supported Democratic candidates for so long (and I keep having to say this: Just because I no longer consider myself a Democrat does not mean that I am now a Republican. The GOP drives me nuts as well). Otherwise, I too would have been lost in their foggy-minded insanity.

I can hazard a guess, mainly because like I said, I was once one of them before I came to my senses. I believe that the Dems see the passage of this nutty GovOp (as I've been calling the "government option") as so crucial and primary to everything else is because they are of a mindset that belongs to the past: the left-wing 1960s.

I believe that this current crop of Dems, which is made up of a lot of aging baby boomers who grew up in that era, feel that this is their one last, best chance of finally implementing their dream of a (bracing myself for the potential criticism here, because there is no other way to say this but to call it) Communist-style health care system in which it's all free - paid by the obscenely wealthy overprivileged class that robs from the rest of us poor dumb slobs who wouldn't know thier anus from their belly button if the Dems weren't there to tell us.

In other words, the Dems believe they know better than us on what's best for us. And they decided that this GovOp is the best for us - despite arguments and evidence to the contrary, because this idea came into its full flower in that holiest of holy eras of the 1960s. It's a dogma, in other words - so right and correct that to try to say otherwise is blasphemy. When the rest of us unwashed rabble dare to question the GovOp dogma, we are insulting their god.

Even a mass of 50,000 or 1 million (depending on whose stats you believe, but I think it would be easy to know the difference between a group of 50,000 people and a million of them. Someone's yanking our chain here) marching on D.C. this past weekend was not enough of a sign that perhaps the GovOp is not the only alternative out there.

No, the GovOp is still the way to go for them. They favor this plan that will prove nihilistic to their re-election chances if they pass it anyway - which they are hard at work to insure that it does. Well, bully for them if they get themselves voted out in the process. I had long said that the party needed to implode from within and rebuild if it's ever going to return to its former glory. Perhaps we are finally going to witness that belief of mine coming into action.

Thing is, they are proving so short-sighted that they aren't even thinking that if they succeed in passing it and do indeed get themselves voted out in 2010 and 2012, who's to say that the new members of the House and Senate - who will most likely be a lot of Republicans - won't turn around and dump that plan right off the bat - especially if the GovOp proves to be as disastrous as some have been saying?

So then the Dems will have pushed and pushed and pushed themselves out of D.C., all for a plan that will do much more damage than what it will allegedly solve. In the process, they will have given the Democratic party a black eye that will take a very long time to heal. And a self-inflicted black eye at that. There is no other word for it than "insanity"; dumb, blind, feverish loyalty to an outdated set of values from another era. Hmm. Maybe there is something to that "natural selection" idea after all.

The truth is that there is no comparison to Hitler

Holy Sauerkraut, Batman! Pat Buchanan sounds like a Hitler apologist! Did Hitler want war?

Adolf Hitler, the Nazi Party, and the rise and fall of both, is a history lesson that will be studied for a long time to come - and it will certainly be used over and over again by political activists of all stripes seeking to persuade discussions to go their way. Basically, the formula is to link your opposition to Hitler in some way or fashion, and the rest, theoretically, takes care of itself.

Much has been made lately of comparing President Obama to Hitler, and there has even been altered pictures circulating that has Obama with Hitler's toothbrush mustache. While left-wingers may cry foul over that, they are far from innocent in using Hitler for political aims. For pretty much all of President Bush's terms of office, left wingers had tried to link Hitler to Bush and the war in Iraq.

The truth is that neither president nowhere near approaches Hitler's lust for power nor his territorial ambitions - and while you may argue over how much loss of human life each has caused, their numbers nowhere nears the staggering loss of life that Hitler brought about. It's just not a valid comparison - and yet that won't stop the comparisons from being made. There is a saying that the definition of insanity is to do the same failed thing every time and expecting a different result each time. Both left and right wingers cling to the Hitler tactic because it is a lazy shorthand way of labeling the opposition instead of actually debating the issues. It's for them that "Godwin's law" was made.

Let me ask this: How many of you had your mind changed after you heard that "X" is just like Hitler? Were any of you a Bush supporter until left-wingers compared him to Hitler, then you switched sides? Did any of you back Obama until you saw those pics of him with a Hitler mustache? The truth is that Hitler and Stalin were monsters the likes of which had never been seen before, and hopefully won't be seen again.

To try to turn the tragic, painful lessons brought about by their murderous actions just to score cheap political points is an insult to all those who suffered and died under their respective regimes. Politics is a dirty, ugly business, and it often is reduced to childish and immature behavior just to gain some edge over their opponent.

Having said all that, this is not to say that there aren't any instances of comparing "Person X" to Hitler, just that the Hitler card has been played so much that whenever it shows up, it's mostly because of that player's intellectual laziness rather than through any valid comparison. The overuse of the Hitler and the Nazi card also has the effect of blurring or diluting the true lessons that can be learned from his actions, and that's something that should NEVER be forgotten.

I'll save that discussion for another time, because I want to be able to deal with this thoroughly.

My high school yearbook picture

Check it out; my high school yearbook pic. I had hair back then, and a bad attitude. And poor taste in fashion too, it seems. Trust me though, I was hardly alone in that.

Public option for healthcare: A delusional fantasy

Some time back on Facebook, I had called the public option for health care a delusional fantasy. I was asked by a fellow blogger to explain. I had stated that I would cover this topic on my blog so that I can go into more detail. Well, getting to that took longer than I expected, so I apologize for that. Anyways, here is why I call a public option a delusional fantasy.

It is a fantasy because to have a "free health care for all" plan will fail by the simple fact that there is simply not enough money to support such a program. We will not be able to tax the rich enough to support it, because there aren't enough rich people to tax. And if you tax them too much (which you will have to do in order to get the funds for the public option), then they will either not be rich anymore, or they will take their money and leave the country. In either instance, we will be "SoL", because then who is left to tax for what will become the motherof all money pits? Ya got it, bucko. The rest of us slobs.

Plus, if employers are given the option of paying a private HMO for its employees vs not paying anything and letting them sign up for the gov't plan, what option do you think they will take? What employer would be willing to take on the added expense of paying for a private HMO for its employees when they wouldn't have to? And what private HMO could stay in business if employers drop them in favor of gov't plans? Those private HMOs will then go out of business, thus leaving the public "option" as the sole remaining option.

The argument that the gov't is simply trying to provide "competition" for private HMOs is a false argument, because there is no way a private HMO can compete with the gov't, who doesn't have to worry about making a profit, thus it can set its own prices - including prices that would be ruinous for private HMOs. This is simple economics that even I know. Soon we will be throwing money at an organization (the gov't HMO, that is) that has no incentive or motivation (like profit) to be doing a professional - or even a good - job in providing your health care.

I call the public option "delusional" because that is exactly what it is to expect that a change from a plan run by profit-mongers - that is, private HMOs - to a plan run by power-mongers - that is, a gov't plan that will become a football in the hands of politicians and lobbyists. Why would we expect that a simple exchange of mongers will make things better? At least with the private HMOs, we can hit them where it hurts by shopping around when they start putting profits ahead of service. Not so when the public option eventually becomes the only option.

Having said all this, this does not suggest that I don't think we need health care reform. Far from it. What I DON'T support is the belief that "health care reform" is totally synonymous with "gov't plan". In fact, I would view them as polar opposites. I am fully aware that private HMOs pull a lot of funny business and I would totally support true health care reform that helped to curb their abuses. More on those alternatives in my next or upcoming blog entry.

Promotions that epic failed

Imagine being the PR exec when something like this occurs:

10 Promotional Stunts that Horribly Backfired

Public vs Private health insurance plans

A good buddy of mine discussed health care in his blog, and it brought up a question that I keep asking myself. This question is not so much directed at him and those who responded in his comments section that followed (but he is free to respond here, of course!), but rather this is me thinking out loud. That question is this:

Will a federal health insurance plan (FHIP) do any better than the private system that we have now?

First, understand that I tried very hard to keep this question from sounding like I'm some sort of anti-government kook. However, I can't shake the idea that a FHIP will become yet another political football whose coverage will vary depending upon who's in office. I also can't shake the fear that a FHIP will become the tool of political lobbyists for pharmaceutical corporations and various other associations allegedly based on "health services". In other words, I can't shake the belief that certain illnesses will get preferential coverages under a FHIP because a certain PAC happens to have powerful lobbyists working for it rather than coverage being based on actual need.

Granted, there will be a "shake-out" period for any FHIP that happens to get off the ground, but can we afford to wait until such a shake-out is complete? And any medical or pharmaceutical PAC would want the "shake-out" period to last as long as possible so that they can keep taking advantage of the uncertainty to work in as much influence into the final plan as they can. I can't shake the feeling that a FHIP is going to be a gigantic financial boondoggle that will do more to hurt health care than help, because we are depending upon politicians to not resort to type by using a FHIP to help their re-election chances rather than to help the people for whom it was intended: the currently uninsured. Can any of you honestly trust politicians to not think of themselves first before the constituencies that they serve - especially with something that is going to be so personal and primal to our lives as our health and health care?

There are some other things I can add, but now is a good time to stop and get some feedback before I continue. However, I will say that it really would give politicians' word more sway if they made themselves subject to the very same FHIP that they expect us to take up (see my previous blog entry). If it's going to be mandatory for us to take it, then it should be the same for them. As foreign a concept as this might be for them, if they would lead by example, then it would speak volumes more of their faith in a FHIP than exempting themselves from taking up such a plan while requiring us to take it up.

Mr President, sign up for your own health care plan!

I was sent this article about the Democratic Party not being required to sign up for the health care plan that will be expected of us to sign up for if it passes. As I often see in many Internet chats: WTF?

I say that they should set the example and require that this mandatory sign-up also include themselves. If it's good enough for them, then it should be good enough for the rest of us. Otherwise, they're setting themselves up to look like a bunch of friggin' hypocrites.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking: "Gasp! A politician lied! That's never happened before!" Still, if they want us to swallow this bitter medicine, then it will down easier if they share our pain.